The country produced all the necessaries of life in abundance, and about 1800 the settlers were sending the residue, with many other articles, such as hemp, cordage, hardware, some glass, whiskey, apples, cider, and salted provisions down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans.[65] The St. Clair which cleared from Marietta in 1801, carried pork, and flour which was sold in Havana for forty dollars per barrel, but was subject to a duty of twenty dollars.[66] With the proceeds of the cargo a load of sugar was purchased and disposed of at Philadelphia. The ships built at Marietta, from this time until 1808, were exchanged for merchandise in the Atlantic cities, and were the most profitable returns which they could make. Although the country was thinly peopled, yet the vessels were always loaded with flour, pork, and other produce, in their downward voyage, thus yielding a double profit.[67] The embargo of 1808 put a stop to this trade and ruined many of the merchants of Marietta, one of the merchants who had a ship in New Orleans at that time, losing over $10,000.[68] Some of the vessels from Marietta, bound to foreign ports, took in cotton, for Liverpool, from the plantations on the Mississippi.[69] The banks of the Ohio having been inhabited for a period of only a few years, the Americans shared but very feebly in the commerce of the Mississippi, which in 1802 consisted of such articles as hams, salted pork, brandies distilled from corn and peaches, butter, hemp, skins, and various sorts of flour. Cattle were sent to the Atlantic States.[70] Trades people supplied themselves at Pittsburg and Wheeling, and passed up and down the river, conveying to the settlers haberdashery goods, and more especially teas and coffee, taking some of their produce in return.[71] In the beginning of spring and autumn merchandise was sent from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Pittsburg for supplying the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and the settlement of Natchez.[72] Michaux says, "I have heard ... that during the last war, corn being up to an exhorbitant rate, it was computed that the exportations from Kentucky had balanced the price of importations of English goods from Philadelphia and Baltimore, by way of the Ohio, but since the peace, the demand for flour and salt provisions having ceased in the Carribbees, corn has fallen considerable, so that the balance of trade is wholly unfavorable to the country."[73] Butter not consumed in Kentucky was put into barrels and exported by the Ohio to the Carribbees.[74] Salt provisions formed another important article of Kentucky trade, 72,000 barrels of dried pork, and 2485 barrels of salt being exported in the first half of the year 1802.[75]